I'm planning a trip to Japan and I'd like to spend one week immerse in Japanese nature. I've read something about the "Daisetsuzan Grand Traverse", which is a 5 days and 55km trekking on a route that connects the Asahi-dake and the Tokachi-dake. I don't usually go for trekking in my home country, even if I enjoy doing it from time to time, so I'm wondering if anyone did that and can actually tell how difficult could be for someone who is not even an amateur trekker (I'm in not in a bad shape, tho). If you also have any other alternative route that you enjoyed feel free to share!

I don't know the track, but twith the information you gave we can make some calculations: 55Km / 5 days - that's an average of ~11Km a day. You can consider that you walk at 4Km / hour so that's about 2h45min aprox. / day walking. That's not much but you can evaluate your physical condition much better. Of course many other factor like the terrain, weight you carry etc. make a difference.
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nsnApr 16 '13 at 19:22

@nsn : yeah, that's exactly what I thought at first, but my guide says you are suppose to walk like 8h/day so I'm kind of curious to know if it is actually true or they are overestimating it for the worst scenario. Last time I did an estimation like yours (ignoring the terrain factor) I ended up in a bike tour in Tuscany doing 50km/day of costant up and down because of hills without any proper bike training. I was about to die :D
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GeeoApr 16 '13 at 19:28

I think it is highly subjective what kind of trekking you are able to do or not. What "Not in bad shape" constitutes is very relative. Hiking in Hong Kong for example is easy for some, but the humidity and heat kills a lot of people that have no problems else where. Same goes for places in high locations.
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uncoveryApr 17 '13 at 1:55

It is subjective, obviously, but what I'm looking for are advices from people who did it so that I can evaluate myself if I can do it or not. I don't expect anyone to tell me what I can / cannot do.
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GeeoApr 17 '13 at 7:02

1 Answer
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I'm not brilliantly positioned to answer this, but since nobody else has...

So I walked a small section of the route back in 2000 or so (Sounkyo Onsen to Kurodake and back) as a day trip, just enough to realize that it's a pretty "serious" national park and you'll want to be well prepared for a serious hike:

As you can see, the problem is not that it's 55 km long, it's that you're going up and down and up and down in the mountains, exposed to the wind, rain, snow and ice (there's no forest cover on the plateau) -- the picture above is the view from Kurodake on a relatively warm late summer day! So if you have no previous experience, I'd hook up with somebody else or try out a shorter section of the route. Asahidake to Kurodake can be done in two days with lodging en route, so you don't need to carry a tent etc.